Ch. 4 -
— Fairy Tail —
—Time Skip: Approx. One Month —
"Oi, Natsu!" Grey called.
"That's my name, don't wear it out Ice Princess," Natsu yelled. Grey almost stumbled back. Natsu said a comeback. They hadn't fought for a while, and Grey had a feeling it was going to get heated.
"Oh, yeah? I thought you earned a new alias recently," Grey muttered, pressing his forehead up on Natsu's.
"Shut up, ice-brain, at least I have a nickname," Natsu shot back.
Grey grinned. "So you've been destroying more things lately, eh?" Grey continued. "Mister Reckless Salamander."
Natsu grinned back. "So? Sue me. It's only a nickname."
"Oh really?" Grey pressed on. "It's only a nickname, is it? Care to tell me about the reason why you've earned that nickname? Are you angry at Lucy for leaving you?"
Natsu's grin faltered and then faded. Grey knew he had had a nerve, that he had gone a tad too far. He knew Natsu was still hurting on the inside, unlike his physical acting on the outside. "Look, Natsu, she's gonna come back sooner or la-" Grey began.
"Shut up, Grey." Natsu walked away. No comeback, no fight, no nothing. He just walked away.
Natsu sat on a bar seat and Mirajane handed him a mug of fire. Natsu glanced up and looked at Mirajane, who was still suspiciously hanging around. She waved Lisanna over.
"So, Natsu," Mirajane began sweetly. "Are you, you know, still under the weather about the whole Lucy incident?"
"Ehh? Where did that come from?" Natsu replied in that child-like way of his.
"Yeah Natsu," Lisanna began, " You seem a little out of it lately," she said, with a sweet smile on her face.
Natsu's cheeks turned red. "Ehh? No way! I'm totally over it! She's gonna come back some day right?"
"Oh, really, because that fight with Grey over there," Mira pointed to Grey who was running from Juvia, "Just told me otherwise."
"N-nothing's wrong! It's just she was my best friend, that's all. I know she's going to come back; I believe in her!" Natsu stumbled over his words.
Lisanna and Mira grinned. "Is that so? You're still sad about her leaving, aren't you? Almost as if," Mira paused, "It's as if you liked her or something like that." She paused again, waiting for his response.
"Of course I like her! She's my best friend!" he replied, confused. Lisanna sighed and Mira pressed her fingertips to her temples. "Oi, Mira, you okay?" Natsu said.
"I'm trying to ask you to admit your undying love to Lucy!" Mira cried. Lisanna hurriedly covered her sister's mouth. By now, some of the guild members that were sitting nearby glanced at them, some eagerly awaiting his response.
Natsu laughed. "Gahahaha! I just said! Of course I love Lucy, she's my best friend!"
Lisanna and Mirajane both sighed at his denseness. Lisanna snapped her fingers. "I got it!" Mira looked at her excitedly, peeling Lisanna's hand off her mouth, which for some reason, was still there. "Okay, Natsu, listen carefully to this question alright?" she began.
"Ah," he grunted, drinking his fire-beer.
"Do you love Lucy like Alzack and Bisca love each other?" she leaned in closer.
Natsu sputtered out the fire-beer and it happened to land on Lisanna's face. Luckily, he had already absorbed the flames by then, so it was only hot beer splattering all over her face. Mirajane shook her head and handed her a towel while Natsu was vehemently denying any 'lovey-dovey type love' had for her.
"Of course not," he sputtered, "why would I like her that way!"
"The colour of your face tells me something different," came Lisanna's muffled reply from beneath the towel. Natsu realized his face was feeling kinda warm. Huh.
"Woaah! My face is red! How did you do that?" Natsu exclaimed. He also felt his heart beating a little faster. "Oi, Lisanna! Mira! My heart is beating! Is that supposed to happen?"
Mira and Lisanna looked at each other in extreme disbelief. "You know what, Natsu?" Mira bagan disappointedly.
"You're just too dense to know what love is," Lisanna finished, before walking toward Elfman. Mira shook her head and turned to Levy.
Natsu sat there for a second, dumbfounded. 'Love?' he thought. 'Are they saying I'm in love with Lucy?'
"Oi, hot hands!" Grey hollered, snapping Natsu out of his 'lovey-dovey' thoughts.
"Whaddya want, stripper?" he called back.
"We're going on a job, so if you want to eat for the next few weeks you better get over here now, flame brain," Grey yelled back.
Erza turned around. "Come on, Natsu, we're going to be late for the train," she said with a glare.
"Aye, sir!" Natsu squeaked, going Happy-mode.
— Rimoro Forest —
Lucy stretched, yawning. It was dawn. Somehow, she managed to wake herself up at dawn everyday. She still sometimes had nightmares, and those were becoming more frequent.
She turned around, swinging her legs from the tree branch she was currently sleeping in. She was constantly travelling through the endless forest, so every night was a different tree branch. She didn't have to follow the river anymore, because she could always find her way back to it by following the smell of the river. Lucy chuckled under her breath. She thought of Natsu, and his strangely strong sense of smell. She frowned and shoved the thought out of her mind.
She jumped down from the tree, with her canvas bag and quiver on her shoulder and a knife in her boot. She carried her bow by hand. She followed the smell of the river and, when she found it, stripped and dived in. The water was ice-cold, but because she did this routine every day, she was used to it. After she finished, Lucy dried herself off and put her black clothing on again. She gathered her things and began to run at a steady pace, getting faster and faster. She grinned. Running was a piece of cake now, she could easily run 10 miles.
After she was done, she did a little bit of exercise, pushups and such. Next, she summoned Loke.
"Gate of the Lion, I open thee!" she said. "Loke!"
Loke appeared in a puff of smoke. "Why, hello, Love. I assume it's time for our daily combat?" he said, grinning.
Lucy grinned. "Hell yeah."
They fought for a couple hours, Loke stopping once to comment on how nice her hair looked that day.
After they were done, Lucy had managed to land some punches at his face and gut, and Loke, while reluctantly, got some punches to her stomach and face.
"Your combat is getting better everyday," Loke commented, pushing his glasses up. Lucy grinned. She sat down on a rock breathing heavily.
"Is it? Just how bad was I in the beginning?" she questioned.
Loke frowned. "I can't tell you that, because that would be insulting you. I can't insult the one I love, can I?"
"Was I that bad?" Lucy remarked.
Loke smiled. "Let's just focus on present now, shall we?"
Lucy laughed dryly. "Well, I'm hungry now. I'm going to go and hunt now, okay?"
Loke smiled, and disappeared.
Lucy waved as he disappeared and got out her celestial bow.
Ten minutes later, she spotted a rabbit. She slowly drew an arrow from her quiver, but suddenly the breeze changed. The rabbit smelled her and scampered away. "Crap," Lucy muttered.
She sat in the same spot for a couple more minutes. The rabbit scampered back out again. She closed her eyes, and visualized herself shooting it. Her eyes snapped open and she let the arrow fly.
Twenty minutes later, she was happily munching on her food sitting cross-legged in front of the fire she had created. Suddenly, she heard an aguished roar not so far away. She shoved the rest of her food in her mouth and quickly stamped out the fire. 'Damn,' she thought, 'I didn't even get to fully enjoy my meal.' She got out another arrow, cautiously stepping forward.
She made her way to a clearing ahead, where she peeked through the trees and saw a heated battle between a giant cat-like thing. It looked like a panther, except 5 times bigger. It's shiny black fur was matted with blood in various places, and it's eyes were a bright green. It's opponent was an even bigger animal that resembled a monkey in a way. From what she could see, the monkey-thing was winning.
'Don't do it,' she thought. 'Don't involve yourself in a fight! You don't need to risk your life; it's only an animal that will probably eat you!' Lucy looked at the ongoing brawl.
'Crap,' she thought, as she aimed at the monkey. She shot.
Immediately after, she quickly summoned Loke for some backup. "Two summons in one day Lucy? I guess you do really want me," he said, flashing his glasses.
"In your dreams," she shouted out, running toward the beast. She whipped out her dagger and her whip.
Loke chucked as her ran behind her.
She snapped her whip out, and it extended and she got ahold of it's neck. She used that to swing herself around the beast and she landed come kicks to it's face, disorienting it before jumping off of it. She landed sideways on a tree for a millisecond, and then jumped back off gracefully, wrapping the whip around the creature's body.
She jumped back down onto the ground again and looked into the beast's tiny grey eyes. It was full of fear. She lightly kicked it's face once more, and said, "Oi, you there, you better not bully anymore of those cat things anymore," she murmured. "Or else I will come find you." It seemed to understand her, because it nodded fearfully. Lucy retracted her whip and fastened it back to her belt, watching as the giant monkey scampered away.
"Well, it seems you didn't need my help at all," Loke said, appearing next to her. "I'm proud of you!"
Lucy was almost taken aback, because he actually sounded genuine for a second there. "Actually?" she said.
"Of course," he replied. "Now how about a celebratory kiss, if you may," he said, leaning in closer. Lucy leaned back and pouched his face away.
"Uh, no. You can go back now." Lucy smirked as he dissipated into the air.
She was about to turn around to leave when she heard a low growl coming from behind her. 'Damn,' she thought. 'I forgot about that cat.'
She turned around and came face to face with large green eyes. She backed up slowly, but, of course, there had to be a large boulder away from her exit. She flattened herself against the boulder as much as humbly possible. The cat thing was kinda cute, in a I'm-going-to-turn-you-inside-out kinda way. She didn't want to hurt it anymore then it was already. Stupid emotions.
The giant panther seemed to look into her eyes, before opening it's mouth. She couldn't help but notice that it was filled with razor-sharp teeth that put all her daggers to shame.
'Oh, crap,' Lucy thought.
A/N:
Oh gosh, I am so sorry for putting a cliffhanger in there, but it had to be done eventually. Eh hehe. I wanted to try, plus it seemed like a good place to stop. And also the fact that I was in the middle of doing my homework when I decided to write this. My attention span is that of a fly. Anyway, thanks for reading and please leave a review about this chapter!
P.S. also tell me if you want it to be a RiLu or NaLu. Thanks!
Oh yeah I almost published with out saying I don't on Fairy Tail. Lol
-Jo